


suddenly he's holding the world in his arms

by fruitbattery



Series: The Mechanisms Microfictions [3]
Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Dancing, Fluff, Other, lyf jooins the mechs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:42:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23471908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fruitbattery/pseuds/fruitbattery
Summary: Ashes gets woken. Marius returns.
Relationships: Lyfrassir Edda/Marius von Raum
Series: The Mechanisms Microfictions [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1647193
Comments: 17
Kudos: 127





	suddenly he's holding the world in his arms

Ashes is pretty sure Marius hasn’t been himself since he reunited with the crew. They’re pretty sure, ever since the Aurora had sped out of the Yggdrasil system, leaving the Bifrost and the squamous things far behind, that he’s been a little more reserved, a little less boisterous. They’re only  _ pretty  _ sure, though, because they’ve got their own problems to worry about. And besides, doesn’t everyone go through mood swings from time to time?

They’re pretty sure though, five years later, that they haven’t seen him for a few days. And despite his stint in a New Midgard prison that one time, he’s not typically a fan of just fucking off for years at a time, the way the others do pretty often. He’s always been a man of gestures, of words, preferring to be around people more than not. He’s probably the softest among them, Ashes muses.

A wonder he’s survived this long, frankly.

Ashes does ask the Aurora if she knows where he’s gone. Once. They receive the equivalent of a knowing smile and a shushing motion. Not the response they were expecting, necessarily, but one they’re willing to respect. So they wander off down a side corridor, hoping to happen upon some unexplored corner and Marius sitting there covered in octokittens, waving at them and inviting them to join him. So maybe they’re a little sentimental. 

They’re the quartermaster. They take care of their people. It’s what they  _ do. _

It’s another week before they see any sign of him– or rather,  _ hear _ any sign. It’s on the rare occasion that they’re in bed, big old-fashioned noise-cancelling headphones firmly in place. They still feel, rather than see, a set of footsteps, rather heavier than normal, powerwalking past the door to their quarters. Sitting up slightly and removing the ear defenders, they listen carefully for any disturbance. 

Hearing nothing, Ashes decides to go back to sleep, leaving off the headphones for now in case any more chaos erupts. They’ve always needed relative silence to nod off at all, but it’ll be worth it to catch any further disturbances.

It’s barely half an hour later when they hear the sound of a violin drifting down the corridor.

They have to resist the urge to scream as they roll begrudgingly out of bed to put on some pants. Throwing open their door, bleary, the violin is coming from the right.  _ Marius.  _ They pad slowly in the direction of the sound, all sorts of lovely words bubbling up in their throat for him.  _ If you want to play music after two AM ship time, you use the other half of the ship, Von Raum  _ and  _ I am going to skin you if I don’t get sleep  _ and  _ space Jesus Christ why  _ all die on their lips as they realize the music isn’t just violin. In fact, they hear a cello, and a viola, and  _ is that a goddamn harp? How the fuck did he smuggle a harp AND a person to play it right under my nose? _

Rounding the last corner to Marius’s corridor, Ashes stops. The door to his room is partially open, and a soft glow is spilling out into the hall. Creeping closer, quiet in case of any surprises, they peer around the door.

First of all, they quickly realize, the music is recorded.  _ Duh.  _ Second, though, is that Marius is standing in the middle of the room, holding someone in his arms, and swaying. Both of their eyes are closed, and for once, Marius seems to actually have one right and one left foot. The person is shorter than he is, so they’re sort of curled into his chest, and he’s guiding them to step with him in a waltz tempo. They’re going willingly enough, but also they’re kind of clinging to him hard enough to hinder both of their dancing. Clearly, neither of them want to let go for even a second.

What’s significantly weirder is the shimmering rainbow aura pulsing out from the person, in slow, undulating waves, lighting up the room with a magical glow much nicer than the shitty bedside lamp. Marius smiles slightly wider each time a pulse hits, whether consciously or not. The air of contentment in the room is truly stifling.

Marius opens his eyes. “Ashes! That’s rude! How long have you been watching?”

Both Ashes and the mystery person jump a little. Ashes finds their voice first. “Like, three seconds, Marius, calm down. I just came to ask you to turn down the music, but it looks like I caught you in the process of adopting a stray.”

The mystery person has turned around by now, and they bristle a little. Their dirty blonde curls are frizzed and matted into what look like they used to be nice braids, but haven’t been touched in weeks, and are now crusted over with some sort of rainbowy bullshit. Ashes puts some pieces together.

“Marius, is this that fucking cop you were moping over?”

  
  


When everyone has calmed down a little, Ashes is actually very happy about the situation. The person’s name is Lyfrassir, and they’re an  _ ex- _ cop (thank god) who’d been assigned to the black box of the train. (An idea germinates in Ashes’s mind, now that they actually have access to a potential first-hand account of what happened, but they can save that for later.) Lyfrassir’s been fleeing the destruction of their system in their tiny ship for they don’t know how long, but they haven’t escaped the Bifrost entirely.

“...and sometimes, when I’m, ah. Really happy, and really calm, I get all glowy.”

Ashes raises a single eyebrow, their pierced one. “So, this–” they indicate Marius and Lyfrassir– “this is a romance thing?”

Marius splutters and turns red, but Lyfrassir answers without hesitation. “Yes. A few days ago, I heard a knock on my ship, and the mad bastard was right outside. He took me here himself!”

Marius attempts to shrink into the bed. Ashes snorts. “You took a nine-day spacewalk to rescue this fucker? Damn. That’s dedication. Well, I’ll talk to Jonny and Nastya tomorrow about keeping them. In the meantime, just don’t wake me up again.” And they turn to leave.

They’re pretty sure they catch Marius whispering something in Lyfrassir’s ear, and they both giggle before Ashes closes the door behind them. Whatever. As long as Marius is happy.

(If they get woken up, though, Lyf is gonna get a violent awakening to what it’s like to date an immortal. Just saying.)

(Ashes will set Marius on fire in front of them.)

The music starts up again as they walk back to their quarters, although it’s now quiet enough to be well out of earshot from their room. They smile to themself at the sweetness of it all. No matter what Jonny says, they think, they’d like to keep this one. At least for a little while. 


End file.
